After a 15-year hiatus, coach Toby Peer is back in Maryland. Peer, who has been coaching for 20 years at schools up and down the East Coast, was named the head coach at South Hagerstown High back in May. He takes over for Greg Kellick, who hadn't had a winning season at South since 2002 and resigned after the 2009 campaign.

Peer, 40, is the seventh coach in South Hagerstown history. For the last two years he served as the offensive coordinator for William Flemming School in Virgina. But when the opportunity arose to move closer to his family in Cumberland and become a head coach again, he jumped at the South High job.

Peer, a Brandywine, W.Va., native, is an energetic and intelligent coach who brings experience as a head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator.

He began his coaching career in 1991 at Shepherd University, his alma mater. In three years at Shepherd he coached the defensive line, which is also the position he played in college.

After three seasons, however, Peer move to Florida, where he spent the next five years. While there, he served as an assistant at Fort Walton Beach High and Pensacola High.

But eventually the college game came calling again, and Peer moved to Georgia to become defensive coordinator at Savannah State. His journey back north was just beginning.

Just one year after arriving at Savannah, Peer had his first high school head coaching opportunity. He took the job at James River High in Virginia. Peer stayed for three years (2000-2002), compiling a 16-14 record. Then he moved on to coach Spotswood High, where he thought he'd have a "better opportunity." But in two years Peer compiled a 2-18 record and "didn't want to stick around to rebuild."

Thus, Peer left Spotswood and took the offensive coordinator job at William Fleming High (Virginia). After one season, he left for Lord Botetourt High as a "favor to a friend." A year later, however, he was back at his old post at Fleming.

But Peer couldn't resist South High, which offered a head coaching gig and the comforts of home.

MdHigh Publisher Dave Lomonico recently spoke with Peer about his new position at South Hagerstown.

It's going well. I'm getting settled into the area. We just moved into a new house. I'm getting my kids registered for school. You know, all those relocation things.

I like the area though. My in-laws are about 40 minutes away and my hometown in Cumberland is a little over an hour away. It's good to be close to them.

The head coaching position was open, first of all. But I went to Shepherd University, so I knew the area and I have family in the area. So it was closer to family and I felt comfortable here.

Well, I'm here to rebuild. I enjoy going in and rebuilding. I enjoy change. I enjoy creating a new vision. I enjoy hiring people to help carry out that vision. I enjoy making it work.

I've always wanted to coach and teach and mentor kids. This is an opportunity to do that, and I think we can turn South Hagerstown into a winner.

The first thing is the strength and conditioning program and monitoring the kids in the weight room. That's essential.

Then we have to monitor the kids in the classroom and make sure they're where they need to be academically. We want to make sure they're eligible to play and also help promote the kids who want to play college football.

Hiring a good staff is crucial, too. You need willing people who have your vision and care about the program.

Finally, we're looking to increase the interest and the number of kids on the team.

Those are the four cornerstones we're looking to build here.

You have to have the support from the administration, and we have that. They're positive people, they work hard and they're accommodating.

The second thing is, like I said before, hiring a good staff, which I'm doing.

Then you as a coach have to bring a positive attitude and work ethic. You have to treat the kids first class.

Next, we're trying to get new weights for the weight room, and we're trying to get the kids in there as a team at the same time. We want to have team building while we're lifting. We want them to see other kids sweating and working hard. That builds an appreciation for their teammates as football players. They may not be friends off the field, but during football training you have to respect and appreciate each other. That goes a long way in brining a team together.

There's no doubt at all. This is my 20th season and I can draw on all these experiences.

The first thing is treating those kids first class. If you treat the kids first class, they'll give you a first-class effort. We want a first-class program.

And I've learned how critical hiring a staff is. You have to lean on them to help steer the ship. That's important. I remember all the coaches I've played for and worked with in my life. You want to be the head coach the assistants want to work with -- not necessarily the coach everyone wants to work for all the time. If you have that, then your assistants will give you a first-class effort.

There are only two types of forces in football - the inside and outside. The inside forces are those coaches and players. Treat them all first class and they'll do what's right for you and everything else will fall into place.

It means developing a strong relationship with your staff. It means when you walk down those school halls, you talk to the kids and you treat them with respect.

It means feeding our players a Thursday spaghetti dinner, feeding them a Friday breakfast, giving a pre- and post-game meal. When it was 101 degrees outside, we bought 10 watermelons, sliced them up and gave it to them.

It's those little things to show appreciation for your players. That's what first class is. You've got to give to receive.

Well, it's just like everyone else who's building a program. We've got to establish a hard-working tradition, a winning tradition. We have to understand the sensitivity to time - there's only one thing in football to take, and that's time. We have to maximize our time. We have to be more efficient with weight lifting, with practices.

We have to find the right staff that will jell with the kids and works well with me.

Then, like everyone else, we have to identify the right kids, put them in the right positions and put them in position to succeed in those schemes.

It might take a couple of years. But we're worried about today. We don't focus on tomorrow's objectives. It's all about accomplishing your daily objectives. Every day we're going to try to get better at something.

We reduce football down to its simplest form. It's no different then math, then teaching, then life. We don't allow things to get complex -- we just keep reducing it down to its simplest form and attack those simple concepts. Everything else will take care of itself.

It's a belief. I believe, the staff believes and the community believes. Now we have to get the players believing and working towards a common goal - to win football games.

Yeah, it's a [long-term project]. I have an 11 year old and a 12 year old. My goal is to see them through their high school graduations. Then beyond that, we'll see what happens.

I'm more of a hands-on type of guy, an energetic guy. I'll coach on both sides of the ball, jumping in with quarterbacks as well as linebackers. I'll jump right in there in the huddle.

I'm not one of those guys that's going to stand on the sideline, twirl a whistle and have everyone call me, 'Coach.' I'm not that guy. Those guys can win, but it's not me.

Well, the goal is to be disciplined and a first-class football program. I can't say much more beyond that.

It is late, and to be sincere, I don't know much about the team at all right now.

But we're not going to allow any of that to be an excuse. The kids have been very good, the coaches have been good. Everyone is positive, energetic and working hard. I'll leave it at that.